From Kelly's Bar to touring the wide Midwest
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| Bass
guitarist Tom Dario, top left, a.k.a. "Steady Eddie" still lives in
Centerville. Bandmate Gabe Jacobs, top right, sings lead vocals. Other
Arch Allies band members include, from left, Kevin Todd, lead guitar,
Jon Wheeler, keyboard and vocals, and Erik Swenson, drums. - Submitted photos |
Local musicians find niche with 70s and 80s cover band
by Jay Stephenson
Staff Writer
Published: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 12:10 PM CST
Once
playing small venues like Kelly’s Bar in Centerville, lead guitar
player Kevin Todd and bass guitarist Tom Dario now travel the country;
their next area gig will be playing to hundreds of fans in their 20s,
30s, 40s, 50s, and even 60s at the Myth in April.
The two
lifelong musicians are part of the five-member cover band Arch Allies,
singing the classic hits of Journey, REO Speedwagon and Styx.
Just
nine months ago, Todd and Dario were solely covering Journey songs with
their band Wheel In The Sky. After they discovered a new singer with
the ability to channel Steve Perry, along with the sounds of Styx and
REO Speedwagon, the band catapulted into a new category of cover band
music. And for the fans who missed the days Steve Perry sang with
Journey, it’s a way to capture the era and music.
"You
almost feel like a rock star,” said Dario, who still lives in
Centerville. “We’re getting more people, and a variety of different age
groups. I got my kids going now who are in their mid-20s to early 30s
and they saw me back when we were really nothing, and now we’ve gone up
the ladder.”
It all began eight years ago when Dario, Todd, and a few other musicians started Separate Ways, doing Journey covers.
“I
kind of think we were one of the first,” Dario said. “We started out
doing Journey in the area, and then we started traveling. But after we
started doing that, there came T.N.T doing AC/DC, (there’s) a Led
Zeppelin cover band, there’s a Tom Petty band now ... so the cover
bands are really taking off.”
The band changed its name from
Separate Ways to Wheel In The Sky as more Journey cover bands developed
in the Midwest and across the country.
For a while, there was even a female singer filling the rasp-tinged singing role of Steve Perry.
“It
was a hard process trying to find a male vocalist who could do Steve
Perry,” Todd said. “So instead of Steve, it was Stephanie Perry.”
The
band has had four “really good” vocalists, he said, but it recently
settled on Gabe Jacobs, who can sing and play the part of all three
lead singers from bands the group covers. For all five band members,
the performance is just as important as the music — a quick costume
change after each set morphs them into the band they’re covering).
With
Jacobs, the band developed a new niche and a new audience, Todd said.
The shows are bigger, more diverse, and more fun for the band and
audience.
In the past, the music could transport audience
members back to their high school years when a Journey ballad may have
been played at their high-school prom. Today, the music is reaching a
wider audience.
“They hear the music from their parents, in
movies and other places,” Dario said. “’Don’t Stop Believing’ was done
on ‘The Sopranos’ and it’s done on commercials.”
Jon Wheeler, a
keyboard player who joined the band nine months ago, said the change to
a three-band format has proved to be a “blessing in disguise.”
“I love it,” he said. “I grew up listening to both REO and Journey, but now I’m really into STYX.”
The
experience of playing for the band is a “dream job,” he said, that
ranks only second to his ultimate dream of playing with Journey itself.
In
the past nine months, the group has gained more notoriety than it did
as a solo Journey act, even opening for major bands such as Santana and
Starship in Michigan.
Todd suspects fans are enjoying the fact
they can purchase a ticket for less than $10 to hear all the classic
hits from any or all of the three bands. Whether it’s “Don’t Stop
Believing” from Journey, “Can’t Fight This Feeling” from REO
Speedwagon, or “Come Sail Away” from Styx, audience members can expect
a full onslaught of the three bands’ most notable songs.
“We get
to do what we really love doing,” Todd said. “We can entertain and make
people laugh, cry, sing, or take them down memory lane.”
For upcoming tour dates and to see video clips of Arch Allies, visit www.archallies.com.
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